I'm inclined to believe that INTERMITTENT FASTING has ruined my endocrine system. It was a direct and powerful onslaught on the adrenal glands that triggered major hormonal chaos.
The cited studies may explain the mechanism of adrenal depletion:
Fasting Alters Pulsatile and Rhythmic Cortisol Release in Normal Man
"The effect of a 5-day fast on integrated, pulsatile, and periodic cortisol release was studied in 10 normal men by measuring serum cortisol concentrations every 20 min for 24 h before (day 0) and during the fifth day of fasting (day 5). Serum concentration profiles were analyzed for integrated cortisol release (area under the curve), pulsatile hormone release by an objective, statistically based pulse detection algorithm (cluster analysis), and periodic hormone release (circadian and ultradian rhythms) by Fourier expansion time series analysis. Urinary cortisol excretion per 24 h was measured in 5 men. The mean 24-h integrated serum
cortisol concentration increased 1.7-fold during fasting (P = 0.0006). This increase resulted from a 2-fold increase in the serum cortisol concentrations between pulses (valley mean; P = 0.0004), an increase in the pulse height (P = 0.001), and an increase in pulse increment above baseline (P = 0.01). There were no changes in the number of pulses per 24 h, the interval between pulses, the width of the pulses, or the area of the pulses during fasting.
Twenty-four-hour urinary cortisol excretion increased in all men, and the
mean urinary cortisol (nanomoles per L)/creatinine clearance (milliliters per s) ratio increased from 119 on day 0 to 187 on day 5 (n = 5; P = 0.05).
The pattern of periodic hormone release also changed during fasting; the mean (±SE) circadian rhythm (24-h) amplitude decreased from 160 ± 14 nmol/L on day 0 to 102 ± 105 nmol/L on day 5 (P = 0.06), and the amplitude of the 12-h rhythm increased from 68 ± 11 to 99 ± 11 nmol/L. There also were significant increases in the amplitudes of rhythms with periodicities of 8.1, 4.1, 2.4, 1.6, and 1.3 h (P = 0.02–0.008).
Fasting in normal men results in distinct changes in the amount and pattern of pulsatile, circadian, and ultradian cortisol release.http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/68/6/1013***
Dual Regulation of Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein-1 Levels by Insulin and Cortisol during Fasting
These data show that insulin and cortisol both regulate IGFBP-1 secretion during fasting; the effects of insulin and cortisol are strong during the course of fasting. Significant hypoglycemia stimulates a further rise in IGFBP-1, which seems to be regulated, in part, by cortisol. The cortisol-induced rise in IGFBP-1 during fasting and during hypoglycemia potentially serves to prevent the hypoglycemic effects of free IGFs.
http://tiny.cc/ijwBP ***
24-hour rhythmic cortisol secretion by fasting stress in midluteal phase women
"In summary, short-term caloric deprivation
enhances daily cortisol secretion by 1.7-fold in healthy midluteal phase young women by selectively amplifying cortisol secretory burst mass and elevating the 24-h rhythmic cortisol mean. Augmentation of daily cortisol production occurs without any concomitant changes in cortisol pulse frequency or half-life or any disruption of the timing of the 24-h rhythmicity or orderliness of cortisol release. Fasting degrades the physiological coupling between cortisol and LH, cortisol and GH, and cortisol and leptin secretion otherwise evident in calorie-sufficient women. We conclude that the corticotropic axis in the young adult female is not resistant to the stress-activating effects of short-term nutrient deprivation, but, rather, evinces strong adaptive homeostasis both monohormonally (cortisol) and bihormonally (cortisol paired with GH, LH, and leptin).
http://tiny.cc/yYbth ***
Fasting as a metabolic stress paradigm selectively amplifies cortisol secretory burst mass and delays the time of maximal nyctohemeral cortisol concentrations in healthy men
"In conclusion, the present data indicate that
starvation-induced enhancement of cortisol secretion in young healthy men is mediated by an increased glucocorticoid secretory burst mass, rather than changes in secretory burst frequency or duration or in cortisol half-life. In addition, fasting modifies the diurnal secretory pattern of cortisol by delaying maximal serum concentrations to the early afternoon. The inverse relationship between serum cortisol and GH responses to fasting suggests differential regulation of the corticotropic and somatotropic axis by the metabolic stress of fasting and/or feedback interactions between these two axes when they are both activated. "
http://tiny.cc/FJsUh ***
FREE CORTISOL IN OBESITY; EFFECT OF FASTING
"Plasma and urinary corticosteroids were measured in 13 obese subjects before and after high and low protein diets, and after fasting. During isocaloric high and low protein diets, urinary 17-oxogenic steroids and to a lesser extent urinary free cortisol excretion rose and fell in parallel with protein intake. Plasma unbound cortisol levels were not much changed by high or low protein intake.
However, during 7 to 11 days total fasting, there was a h
ighly significant rise in plasma unbound cortisol at 24.00. A smaller rise occurred at 09.00. The overall effect was a considerable diminution of the day-night variation of plasma unbound cortisol levels during fasting, and a rise in prevailing unbound cortisol levels and urinary free cortisol excretion. In 3 subjects tested these changes were reversed immediately by glucose re-feeding."
http://www.eje-online.org/cgi/content/abstract/81/2/321***
The effect of Ramadan fasting on maternal serum lipids, cortisol levels and fetal development
"In the fasting group, the maternal serum
cortisol levels on day 20 were significantly higher than the initial levels obtained 1 week prior to Ramadan (p < 0.05)."
http://www.springerlink.com/content/h4w1840303242r0n/***
increased salivary cortisol in response to three stressful conditions
"In the fasting stress experiment, students had
higher salivary cortisol concentrations after fasting for 15 h than they did after the completion of the GTT. Even short-term fasting is sufficiently stressful to cause activation of the HPA axis and a rise in cortisol (2). Once fasting has ended, cortisol levels drop to basal values quickly (2, 26, 27). The cortisol decline during a GTT has been suggested to reflect a circadian fall in circulating plasma cortisol (27). Basal cortisol has a precipitous circadian drop in the first 4 h of the light cycle (17). While our class met after this time, our data do not refute the possibility of a circadian effect as there were no differences in cortisol concentrations between the fasting samples in this experiment and basal samples from either the presentation stress or competition stress experiments (P > 0.05). This suggests that the decrease in cortisol concentration may be due to a circadian rhythm or the combination of a circadian decline in cortisol and the end of the fasting stress. Another possibility is that glucose ingestion directly effects cortisol release through an unknown mechanism (27)."
http://tiny.cc/HTfHV ***
The effect of a single missed evening meal on the male reproductive axis
The male reproductive axis reacts more quickly to energetic imbalances than previously appreciated.
•Waking and 11AM salivary cortisol remained unchanged by missing a single meal.
Previous studies found cortisol increases following fasting. The cortisol awakening response may have concealed any fasting-stress based salivary increase.
Urinary cortisol (unconfounded by waking response) increased significantly following a single evening of fasting. This is consistent with the literature (Cameron 1996).
•Salivary ghrelin was not associated with fasting. Diurnal variation in ghrelin production likely overshadowed any increase in salivary ghrelin. Future studies will asses urinary ghrelin, a pooled overnight measure less confounded by diurnal variation.
•Salivary ghrelin was strongly negatively associated with waking salivary testosterone. Combined with previous research showing high ghrelin expression in the testes, and decreases in T after ghrelin administration in vitro, these results are suggestive of ghrelin as a mechanism decreasing testosterone production during fasting (Barreiro and Tena-Sempere 2004).
http://www.csss.washington.edu/Anniversary/Poster/BenTrumble.pdf***
Insulin, glucagon, Cortisol and growth hormone release in association with physiological decrements in the plasma glucose concentrations in fasting men
"All subjects fasted the whole month and the average fasting time was about 16 hours. Venous blood samples were taken on four different days; one day before Ramadan (day zero), then on the first, 74t h and 28t h days of the month. In each of these four days, blood samples were taken at 4:00 PM (shortly before evening meal). At the end of the month, mean weight loss was 3.9 kg (p<0.05). Reduction in the mean plasma glucose concentration from 5.21'±0.37 mmol/L to 3.71 ±0.46 mmol/L were associated with increments in plasma glucagon (34.9±9.4 pmol/L; p<0.001) and
Cortisol (378±154 nmol/L; p<0.05) at the end of fasting, and the increment in plasma growth hormone (GH) 169±39.5 pmol/L; p<0.05) only on day 14 of fasting."
http://tipdizini.turkiyeklinikleri.com/download_pdf.php?id=51646
